Yarn-spool winding machine



Dec. 8, 1964 s. FURST 3,160,359

YARN-SPOOL WINDING MACHINE Filed May 1, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 8, 1964 s. FURST 3, 60,359

YARN-SPOOL WINDING MACHINE Filed May 1, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 n U H J L i I a 02 20;? W 7 Dec. 8, 1964 s. FURST 3,160,359

YARN-SPOOL WINDING MACHINE Filed May 1, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 a w n w I I A s .a k

United States Patent Ofiice 3,160,359 Patented Dec. 8, 1964 My invention relates to machines for rewinding relatively small coils of yarn, such as spinning cops, into larger packages of a desired shape and size, such as cross-wound spools of the types called cheeses and cones.

in a more particular aspect, the invention concerns winding machines in which, as soon as a package is fully wound, an automatic exchanging device removes it from the winding location and substitutes an empty spool core to receive another package, the completed package then passing to a lay-cit location, for example, a collecting container.

It has been found in practice that such Winding machines do not always afford the expected advantages and economy because the attending personnel do not always remove the packages sufficiently early from the layoff location so that the next following package reaches the lay-oft device before the necessary space is vacated. Although automatic Winding machines of the multi-station type have been equipped with a lay-off conveyor belt along a row of winding stations for receiving the filled take-up spools therefrom, similar trouble is nevertheless encountered by the known take-up spool exchanging devices because, when a filled take-up spool is being passed from the winding position onto the lay-off convcyor, another take-up spool coming from a different winding station may already occupy the same spot on the conveyor belt. The newly dotted spool then hits against the spool previously on the belt, so that edging or other trouble, often affecting a large number of winding stations served by the same lay-off conveyor, is in-' evitable.

It is an object of my invention to improve automatic yarn-package winding machines, particularly for crosswound packages of the cheese or cone type, by providing them with automatic take-up spool exchange and lay-off means which under all circumstances secure an orderly removal of the filled take-up spools and reliably prevent the danger of trouble occurring in the conveyance of the filled spools away from the winding location.

To achieve these objects, and in accordance with a feature of my invention, I provide, in a yarn winding machine of'the above-mentioned type, the lay-01f device for the filled take-up spools with a spool sensing device which functions, in response to the lay-off location being occupied by a filled spool, to control a blocking member that prevents the supply of further take-up spools. The lay-ofi device may be constituted by a sheet or table member which receives on its top surface the filled spools when these are dofied from the winder, or the lay-oil device may consist of a conveyor belt, a collecting box, a so-called pin board whose pins pass through the core openings of the spools to be restored, or any other equipment available for such purposes. Regardless of the kind of lay-off device being used, however, it is essential to provide in the path between the winding location and the lay-oil? device a blocking member which is controlled by spool sensing means to prevent filled spools from reaching the lay-ofi device in dependence upon the occupancy conditions of the lay-oil device.

The spool sensing device, according to a more specific embodiment of the invention, may consist of photoelectric feeler means operating with a light source and a photocell which becomes. obscured relative to the light source when a predetermined location of the lay-01f device is occupied by a spool, such obscuring causing a change in voltage which electrically controls the abovementioned blocking member.

According to another and generally preferred feature of my invention, however, the spool sensing device comprises a feeler lever which is mounted beneath the lay-ofi device, such as a spool-supporting sheet member, and which passes through an opening of the sheet member to engage the yarn body of a spool if and as long as a spool happens to remain at this particular location, the corresponding rocking movement of the feeler lever being transmitted to the above-mentioned blocking means that prevent the arrival of further spools as long as the feeler lever responds to the presence of a spool.

The blocking member for preventing the supply of further take-up spools when the lay-cit device is filled is preferably designed as a stop lever which is pivotaliy mounted so that its active end, under control by the spool sensing member, can move into the path of the spools traveling from the Winding location to the lay-off device.

According to another feature of my invention, it is particularly advantageous to place the stop lever, or specifically its active portion at such a location of. the just-mentioned spool travel path that sufiicient space remains available between the blocking lever and the winding location to constitute an intermediate storage space for filled take-up spools. More specifically, the travel path between the clotting location of the filled spools and the lay-ofi location is given such a great length that one or more spools can remain in the intermediate space terminated by the position of the stop lever shortly ahead of the lay-ofi device. Consequently, when the stop lever is active, one or more spools can remain in intermediate storage position until the lay-01f device proper, such as the above-mentioned conveyor, is ready to receive the next spool. Such an intermediate storage position has the further advantage that the temporary retainment of spools at this location does not afiect the spool exchange and hence does not delay the winding and completion of new spools.

Space limitation does not always permit providing for intermediate storage between winding location and layoff device. For such and other reasons, it is in some cases preferable to design the above-mentioned blocking member as a component of a control mechanism which stops the automatic exchange of the take-up spool. According to this feature, the exchange of a filled supply spool by an empty core, normally occurring automatically, remains blocked and delayed until the lay-oft device becomes available for receiving a filled take-up spool from the winding station.

The above-mentioned and other objects, advantages and features of my invention, said features being set forth with particularity in the claims annexed hereto, will be apparent from, and will be described in, the following with reference to the embodiments of yarn winding machines according to the invention illustrated by way of example on the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevation, partly in section, of a Winding station which forms part of a multi-station winding machine comprising a single lay-off conveyor for a row of such stations.

FIG. 2 is a cross section along the line IIII in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows schematically a modified portion of a machine otherwise corresponding to FIG. 1. M '1 FIG. 4 shows schematically a side elevationoflanother machine according to the invention which;

23 from the otherwise similar machine of FIG. 1, comprises a spool-feeler controlled mechanism for Stopping the spool exchanging operation of the machine. v p The illustrated embodiments exemplify embodiments of theinvention in conjunction with yarn-package wind understandable. The reference numerals in the accompanying drawing are identical with those used for respective functionally similar components in Patent 3,092,340

(Serial No. 64,197). V

Referring to FIG. 1, the yarn F to be wound'into a yarn package of the desired shape and size, passes from a sup-- ply coil A througha yarn tensionerT and past a yarn guard 37 to a yarn-guiding drum 22 and thence onto the core 'of .a take-up spool 21. The mandrel or pin for accommodating the supply coil A in proper position, as well asthe tensioner T, the yarn guard 37 and the bearings for the shaft 22a of the guiding drum 22 are mounted on the rigid frame and supporting structure of the machine composed of mounting plates, such as the one denoted by 201, and interconnecting tubular beam structures 2112, :3 and 204. The take-up spool 21 is rotatably andremovably imounted on a spool holder 20 which constitutes a journalling frame and has a pivot shaft 140 secured to the frame structure 201 of the machine. The body of yarn wound up on the take-up spool 21 rests upon the cylindrical periphery of the guiding'drum 22. Consequently when successv the drum 22 isrbeing driven at constant angular speed, it

entrains the take-up spool 21 by frictional engagement so that the yarn F is wound up on the spool 21 at a constant linear traveling speed corresponding to the peripheral speed of the guiding drum 22. The drum 22 is provided on its peripheral surface with the conventional guiding groove which forms a helical loop closed upon itself, so as to cause the arrivingyarn F to reciprocate axially along the take-up spool 21 while being wound, thus producing the desired cross-wound yarn package.

The yarn-guiding drum 22 is driven from a friction roller 16 on a shaft 15 which is kept in continuous rotation at constant speed as long as the machine isin opera tive condition. Driving force is transmitted from friction wheel 16 to drum 22 by means of an intermediate friction roller 25 which is journalled on an arm 24 linked to a bellcrank lever 23 pivoted at 23a to the frame structure of the machine. 7 The lever 23 is actuated by a control rod 41 to place the intermediate roller 25 into and out of coupling engagement between the driving roller 16 and the drum 22. As will be further explainedbelow, the friction roller 25 is in active engagement with roller 16 and drum 22 during normal winding operation but to prevent excessive pressure between spool 21and drum 22. The lever 104 carries an entrainer pin 16 th engaging an arcuate slot 16511 in a segment 1%. A spring 165a biases the segment 195 clockwise relative; to the lever 194 so that normally the upper end of slot 195b abuts against the pin 104b, whereby the'segment 195 is normally entrained by lever 194 when the latter turns counterclockwise as the rod .162 and the disc 1% move upwardly together with the spool holder 20 While the package of yarn being wound onto the spool 21 increases its diameter.

The segment 1G5 is engageable by a cam-control lever Y 1% which is pivoted to the frame structure of the machine at 106a and is biased by a spring 141 for counterclockwise rotation. Normally, however, the upper end of lever res abuts'against the peripheral cam portion of the segmentliiS so-that the lever 1% remains in the illustrated position.

When the take-up spool 21 is filled and hence the disc 1%? on rod'ltlz raised to a position similar to'that of FIG. 3, cam 1125 turns counterclockwise, until lever 1% is released and the spring 141 snaps the lever 1426 to the left (counterclockwise) During such motion, an arm 1%7 of lever 1% places its hook-shaped end 16% beneath a lever 45', thus preventing the lever 45 from continuing an oscillating mot-ionnormally imparted thereto by means of a linking rod 46. The lever 45 is pivoted at 454; to a .drlve-controllever 31" which in turn is pivoted at 31:: to the stationary frame structure of the machine and whose upper end is linked by the above-mentioned control rod 41 to the bell-crank lever 23. The linking rod 46 is acted upon by a dog member 11 which, during operation of the machine, is kept reciprocating on its shaft 8 for the purpose of imparting to the lever 45 an oscillating motion serving to test the operating condition of the winding station and, as the case may be, to effect stoppage of the winding operation in the station upon occurrence of yarn breakage or supply-coil depletion or completion of a yarn package on the take-up spool core.

When the take-up spool 21 is filled, with the result that the lever 1% is released from the illustrated position of FIG. 1 and arrests the lever 45 at 169, the drivecontrol lever 31 is likewise prevented from oscillating arrested by the lever 45 and cannot turn clockwise about its pivot 37a.

Normally, the yarn guard 3'7 is biased by gravity or by a spring (not shown) to ttu'n clockwise about its pivot, such clockwise motion being stopped by T the yarn F as long as the yarn extends under proper tenis removed theerfrom, under control by the rod 41, in the event the yarn F is absent at the location of theyarn guard 37, which absence may be due to yarn breakage 01'' Linked to the spool holder 20 is a damper 'rod 1192 connected to. a dash pot D. Mounted on rod 102 is a disc 103 which cooperates with a lever 194 pivoted at 1t94a and biased by a spring 1tl4c so as to somewhat compensate the weightof thespoohholder assembly in order sionalong its normal path between the tensioner T and the guiding drum 22. 'When due to yarn breakage or depletion of the supply coil A the yarn F ,isabsent at the locationof the-yarnsguard tip, the yarn guard 37 will deflect counterclockwise from the illustrated position.

Machines of this kind are preferably equipped with automatic yarn-knotting and supply-coil exchanging devices, for example such as those described and illustrated in my US. Patents Nos. 2,733,870, 3,077,311, 3,078,054,

or 3 ,O33,478, all assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Since the design and operation of the knott-ing and coil-exchanging devices is not essential to the present invention, it will sufiice to mention that theoperation of these devices is released by the deflection of the yarn guard from the normal position occupiedwhen the yarn is under proper tension at the location of the guard tip. Consequently by locking the guard 37 in response to filling-up of the take-up spool 21, the guard 37 cannot respond to any simultaneous occurrence of yarn breakage or supply-coil depletion and cannot put the auxiliary knotting and coil-exchanging devices into operation during the period in which the completed spool is being removed and substituted by an empty core. At the time the next winding operation is commenced, the yarn F is again under proper tension so that the yarn guard 37, when released by the oscillating lever 45, can again initiate a knotting or supply-coil exchanging operation in consequence of any subsequent yarn breakage or depletion of coil A.

The cam-control lever 106 has another arm 142 which is linked by a connecting rod 143 with a trigger detent 144 cooperating with a cam disc 145 rotatably seated on a cam shaft 146. The shaft 146 is continuously driven at constant speed and tends to rotate the cam counterclockwise through a slip clutch (not shown) which permits continued rotation of shaft 146 when the cam is kept arrested by engagement of the detent 144 with a notch 139 in cam 145.

The cam 145 carries a dog pin 188 for cooperation with the nose 189 of the detent 144 so as to turn the detent clockwise about its pivot 189a to the illustrated position when the pin 18%, during the last portion of the counterclockwise rotation of cam 145, is engaged by the nose 189. Another cam (not shown) located coaxially behind cam 145 cooperates with a follower 148 which is biased by a spring 175 into engagement with the cam and acts upon a control rod 149 through a helical compression spring 150, two other coaxial cams, all rigidly joined with one end rests against the cam 145, act upon a bell-crank lever 152 and a follower pin 174 of a swing arm 168 respectively. The cam follower 148, the lever 152 and the swing arm 168 are mounted for pivotal motion about a single pivot shaft 167. (For details of the cam mechanisms, reference may be had to FIGS. 1 to 5 of Patent 3,092,340, Serial No. 64,197.)

The control rod 149 has its upper end linked to an arm of the spool-holder frame 20. The bell-crank lever 152 is connected by a linking rod 153 with a doublearmed lever 154 which turns about the pivot shaft 140 of the spool-holder frame 20 and carries at its upper end a spool-core magazine 155. The outlet opening of the magazine is normally closed partially by a flap member 155 pivoted at 156a and biased to closing position by a spring 157. The closing flap 156 can be opened in opposition to the force of spring 157 to such an extent that one empty core S at a time can be removed from the magazine. (See also FIGS. 1 and 15 to 17 of Patent 3,092,340, Serial No. 64,197.)

The swing arm 168 has a lug 176 at its top end and a lateral extension 168a near its pivot. The lug 176 acts upon a yarn-deflector 177 which has an arm provided with a yarn-guiding portion 182 and is rotatable on a fixed vertical pivot pin 180' secured to a spool supporting sheet 100. A spring 179 mounted on pin 180' biases the defiector 177 to turn the yarn-guiding portion 182 to the rear (i.e. in the direction away from the observer in FIG. 1) when the swing arm 168 turns counterclockwise. When thereafter the swing arm 16$ returns clockwise to the end position illustrated in FIG. 1, the yarn-guiding end 182 returns to its illustrated forward position and then entrains the yarn from the normal path to a position laterally of the completed yarn package so that the yarn end is placed out of the way and cannot interfere with the insertion of an empty core from the magazine 155.

The extension 168a of swing arm 168 is linked by a rod 304 to an arm 301 of a dofier 301 pivoted at 302 to a portion 303 of the fixed machine frame structure. Movement of swing arm 168 thus causes the active end 320 of dolfer 301 to push a filled take-up spool from the winding location onto the supporting sheet member 180 mounted on the frame structure 201. The sheet has a concave portion to receive the doflied spool, thus preventing the spool from inadvertently rolling back to the range of the winding operation. From sheet member 180, the spool can roll from position 21' to position 21" on a layoff conveyor or transporting device 307 if this position happens to be vacant. Otherwise, however, a stop 501 protruding upwardly through an opening in sheet member 180 will arrest the spool in the intermediate position 21'. The conveyor extends along a row of winding stations, each similar to the one shown and described, so as to receive filled spools from all of these stations. The presence of a spool at location 21" is sensed by a feeler lever 502 which controls the operation of the stop 501 as will be more fully described hereinafter.

The operation of the machine as described so far, is as follows.

As the take-up spool 21 being filled grows in diameter, the frame 20 and the disc are gradually lifted until the segment 105, turning counterclockwise, triggers the control lever 106. The spring 141 then snaps the lever 106 counterclockwise, and the linking rod 143 unlatches the detent 144. Now the set of cams of which the cam forms a member, performs a single revolution in the counterclockwise direction, and the follower pin 174, riding on one of the cams, causes the swing lever 168 to turn clockwise about pivot shaft 167 and to pull the linking rod 304 downward. Rod 304 thus swings the dolier 301 counterclockwise about its pivot 302. The pressure plate 320 of the dofier pushes the filled spool 21 upon the supporting sheet where the filled spool passes over the hump onto a sheet portion slightly inclined downwardly toward the lay-off conveyor 307 which serves to pass the filled spools to a collecting location. The conveyor belt 307 is trained about rollers 308 journalled on the frame structure 201 of the machine by means of consoles 309. The conveyor belt 307 is driven by means of its rollers 308 with the aid of an electric motor 310.

The above-mentioned stop 501 is fastened to a sensing lever 502 which is rotatable about a fixed pivot 503 and biased counterclockwise by a spring 504. The lever 502 has a feeler portion which can pass through a gap be tween the longitudinally subdivided conveyor belt and is pushed downward by engagement with a spool if such a spool 21 happens to pass by. As a result, the stop 501 is moved into the spool travel path from the winding location to the conveyor and determines the end of an intermediate storage position in which any arriving full spool is held at 21' until the proper locality on the conveyor is vacated and the stop 501 is withdrawn.

The operation of the feeler lever 502 will be further apparent from the cross-sectional illustration in FIG. 2. The upper end portion 502a of the feeler lever 502 passes through the upper run of the conveyor which is composed of two longitudinally spaced individual belt portions. Consequently only one of these two belt portions in the upper and lower runs respectively is visible in FIG. 2, namely those shown at the right in FIG. 1.

If desired, an elastically deformable, single conveyor belt may be substituted, in which case the feeler lever 502 may rest from below against the upper run of the belt so that it can be pressed downwardly by the weight of the spool, utilizing the elasticity of the conveyor belt.

Shown in FIG. 2 is a spool 21" being transported on the conveyor belt 307 in the direction of the arrow- T,

this spool having reached one end of the upper portion 502a of the feeler lever 502 so that this lever has just been depressed. The spool 21', shown by broken lines in FIG. 2, is assumed to be located in the rear of the plane of illustration behind the stop which retains the spool 21' until the traveling spool 21" has advanced to the position 21" indicated in FIG. 2 by a dot-and-dash line. The upper portion 502:: of the feeler lever 502 is given such a length that, in view of the traveling speed of the conveyor 307 and the interval of time required for a spool to pass from the intermediate storage position at the stop onto the conveyor belt, a collision with any spools already on the conveyor is reliably prevented.

In lieu of a mechanical sensing device exemplified by the embodiment according to FIGS, 1 and 2, the occupancy conditions at the lay-oil location, such as on the above-mentioned conveyor, can also be determined by sensing means operating on a different principle. As an example, a photoelectric sensing device is shown in FIG. 3. Mounted above the conveyor 307 are one or more light sources 511 whose beams of light are received by respective photoelectric cells 512 When the light beam impinging upon the illustrated photocell 512 is interrupted by a spool 21 on conveyor 367, a corresponding voltage occurs in the schematically indicated circuit of which the photocell forms part,"and the armature 513 of a solenoid 514 controlled by the photocell 512 will drop off. The armature, linked to a lever 592, thus causes a blocking stop 501 to :be placed in front of the spool 21' on the travel path formed by the supporting-sheet member 180. If the conveyor is vacant at the location being supervised by the photoelectric sensing device, the light beam issuing from source 511 to photocell 512 causes the armature 513 to be pulled into the solenoid 514 so that stop SM is Withdrawn. If the sonsing device'comprises a plurality of photocells in a row longitudinally of the conveyor, these cells are all con nected to the same electromagnet or solenoid to jointly control the stop 5% in a manner equivalentto the control eifect of the longitudinally elongated member 502a according to FIG. 2 explained above.

As mentioned, it is sometimes preferable if the sensing device responsive to the occupancy condition at the layori' location, acts upon a mechanism for automaticallyv 1&5 counterclockwise until the control lever 1% is released, this control lever 166, biased by spring 411, will normally turn counterclockwise and, acting throughthe linking rod 143, will pull the detent 144 out of the cam 145 to initiate a take-up spool exchange as described above. Assume, however, that a filled spool 21" on the conveyor belt 367 happens to be passing by the-Jayoii location of the illustrated winding station. Then the feeler lever 502, contactedby the spool 21", has been turned clockwise to the illustrated position in opposition to the force of spring 5434. Under these conditions, a linking rod 521 which connects the feeler lever 502 with a latch S22 pivoted to the frame structure 201 of the machine, has turned the latch 522 to the illustrated position where the latch catches behind a nose 144a of the detent 14-4. Consequently, the detent 14d and the control lever 1% cannot be moved by the spring 141 i and the cam 145'is not released for rotation. The. spool exchange, therefore, does not yet commence. Only after the conveyor 3i)? is vacated at thelay-off location of the illustrated winding station, can the feeler 502 turn a counterclockwise under the action of spring 504. This causes the latch 522 to turn clockwise and to release the detent nose 144a, whereupon the spool exchanging operation will take place. I i

In the embodiment described-above, the lay-off device is constituted by a conveyor belt which may either run continuously and supply the filled take-up spools to a collecting container, or which may operate intermittently so as to run only when a filled spool is to be conveyed. In either case, there is the possibility of collision between a spool already located on the conveyor belt and a spool just being discharged from a winding station when the previously deposited coil passes by. For avoiding such collisions on the conveyor belt, it has been proposed to place .the conveyor belt in motion only after a spool exchange has been completed on all winding stations of a multi-station machine and the filled spools have passed onto thev conveyor belt. However, since different windingstations require respectively diilerent winding periods because of diiferences in the number of yarn breakages or supply-coil exchanges, those Winding stations that more rapidly complete a take-upspool would have to remain at'standstill until the winding station exhibiting the poorest performance, such as the station adectedby the highest numberof yarn breakages, has completed a spool; Such an operation, therefore, would greatly impair the economy of the entire winding machine. r'nent is reliably prevented, in addition to' the fact that trouble due to edging or other detrimental eiiects is likewise avoided. i

To those skilled in the art it will be obvious, upon a study of this disclosure, that with respect to various details in design and arrangement my invention permits of a great variety of modifications and can be given embodiments other than particularly illustrated and described herein, without departing from the essential features of my invention and within the scope of the'claims annexed hereto.

I claim:

1. A yarn winding machine, comprising a winding mechanism having spool-core journalling means for accommodatingatake-up spool being wound, a core-supplying exchange mechanism for substituting anew core for a full spool on said journalling means, a lay-oil device adjacent to said journalling means for receiving therefrom the fullspools, means for doiling full spools from said winding mechanism and supplying them along a predetermined path to said lay-off device, a spool sensing device mounted at said lay-0E device within a predetermined range adjacent said winding mechanism and ac-.

, actuating said sensing device into said responded condition when a full spool is in said sensing-beam path.

-3. A yarn winding machine according to claim 1, said spool sensing device having a feeler member displaceably mounted at said lay-oil device and engageable with a spool in said predetermined range of said lay-off device so as to be displaced into said responded condition when a full spool is present in said range.

4. A yarn winding machine according to claim 1, a connecting surface member defining said predetermined path and extending between said journalling means and said lay-off device and having a supporting top surface on'which the spools pass to said lay-otf member, said blocking means comprising a normally inactive stop displaceablethrough said surface member to an active stop position in the path or" the spools for then stopping them from reaching said lay-off device, said spool sensing device being' connected with-said stop member so that said step is kept in said active stop position when a full spool is in said predetermined range. 5 I i 5. In a iyarn'winding machine according to claim 4,

said surface member having along said predetermined path between said journalling means and said stop memher a spool-accommodating area of sufficient size to accornmodate at least one spool, so that said surface mem' By virtue of the present invention, such impair- 9 mechanism having spool-core journalling means for accommodating a take-up spool being wound, a core-supplying exchange mechanism for substituting a filled spool on said journalling means by a core, a lay-01f device adjacent to said journalling means for receiving therefrom the filled spools, stop control means operatively connected with said exchange mechanism, and a spool sensing device mounted at said lay-01f device and responsive to said lay-off device being filled in a predetermined range thereof with spools, said sensing device being connected with said stop control means for stopping said exchange mechanism from supplying cores to said journalling means when said lay-off device is filled in said range.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,531,711 Marsh Mar. 31, 1925 2,304,473 Paxton et al. Dec. 8, 1942 2,366,279 Mitchell Jan. 2, 1945 2,441,469 Cameron May 11, 1948 2,763,236 Cummings Sept. 18, 1956 2,978,120 Agnello et al. Apr. 4, 1961 3,092,340 Furst June 4, 1963 

1. A YARN WINDING MACHINE, COMPRISING A WINDING MECHANISM HAVING SPOOL-CORE JOURNALLING MEANS FOR ACCOMMODATING A TAKE-UP SPOOL BEING WOUND, A CORE-SUPPLYING EXCHANGE MECHANISM FOR SUBSTITUTING A NEW CORE FOR A FULL SPOOL ON SAID JOURNALLING MEANS, A LAY-OFF DEVICE ADJACENT TO SAID JOURNALLING MEANS FOR RECEIVING THEREFROM THE FULL SPOOLS, MEANS FOR DOFFING FULL SPOOLS FROM SAID WINDING MECHANISM AND SUPPLYING THEM ALONG A PREDETERMINED PATH TO SAID LAY-OFF DEVICE, A SPOOL SENSING DEVICE MOUNTED AT SAID LAY-OFF DEVICE WITHIN A PREDETERMINED RANGE ADJACENT SAID WINDING MECHANISM AND ACTUATABLE INTO A RESPONDED CONDITION UPON THE PRESENCE OF A FULL SPOOL IN SAID PREDETERMINED RANGE, AND STOP MEANS INCLUDING FIXED MEANS FOR PREVENTING A FULL SPOOL LOCATED ALONG SAID PATH FROM ROLLING BACK TOWARD SAID JOURNALLING MEANS AND FURTHER INCLUDING BLOCKING MEANS CONNECTED WITH SAID SENSING DEVICE FOR ARRESTING THE FULL SPOOLS AT A PREDETERMINED LOCATION ALONG SAID PATH WHENEVER SAID SENSING DEVICE IS IN SAID RESPONDED CONDITION. 